John McPherson's single-panel comics have appeared in 11 previous books. Nearly 600 daily and Sunday newspapers regularly carry his work, which has been syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate since 1992. A line of McPherson greeting cards, mugs, and calendars has sold well in the United States, and will soon expand to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the European Union. Still, fans cannot get enough of Close to Home!Now comes Ferociously Close to Home. Like its predecessors, this 144-page volume delivers McPherson's trademark take on the absurdities of everyday life. To say that his solutions to these perplexing situations is 'out there' is an understatement. Consider Gina, who decides a branding iron will be the ideal memory aid for her birthday date-challenged husband. And poor Lanny, whose treadmill session is interrupted when he inadvertently triggers the health club's offensive odor alarm.McPherson has long walked the line between grotesque and goofy. But somehow, his figures with big noses and bulging eyes connect with readers with a surefire magnetic precision. Whether it's health care or parenting, dating or car repairs, Close to Home delivers McPherson's warped world without fail.

Some call it weird. Others, eclectic, creative, hilarious, laugh-out-loud funny, and good old-fashioned snort-milk-out-your-nose humor. Whatever adjective you apply to "Close to Home," it has become one of the most popular comic panels in the funny pages today.

" Close to Home" has devout fans that range from elementary students to octogenarians. As one fan put it, "I feel like you have been looking in my window and are drawing my life!" Though by no means a Peeping Tom, John McPherson does have the unique skill of being able to take those idiosyncrasies of daily life that drive us all nuts and infuse them with razor-sharp wit.

In "When Bad Things Happen to Stupid People" John features angry letters from readers, cartoons that were killed by the editor, a glimpse inside his creative process, and never-before-seen photos of his erasers, quill pens, and his lucky drawing slippers. Who could resist it?

Be prepared to laugh out loud as GARFIELD leads you on a riotous romp through his hilarious haunts. It's a full-color ride of nonstop fun and thrills--with plenty of laughs (and snacks) along the way!

Combining inspiration, humor, and entomology, Instagram artist Ali Beckman (@SoFlyTaxidermy) is the internet's go-to gal for bug-related content that makes you a happier human. Beckman's witty comics, which use actual insects in everyday situations, illustrate the importance of pollinators as well as body positivity and mental health awareness. Using creatures that are donated, purchased, or found dead to create amusing cartoons, Bee a Good Human highlights the integral role of insects in our environment while also demonstrating we all have a part to play in this world. Beyond bugs, Beckman's art speaks to the value of self-love as she shares a narrative of growth and finding confidence within. Bee a Good Human features the best of Beckman's @SoFlyTaxidermy Instagram art. With 106 color illustrations, many of which have never appeared online, this gift of a book will make you consider the bigger picture-and laugh a little too.

Up the Garden Path brings together a glorious collection of Thelwell's gardening cartoons. This humourous cartoon guide covers all aspects of gardening, from how to make a hole in the frozen fish pond to how to get your mower out of the shed, and includes a calendar of essential work throughout the year.

THREE BOOKS IN ONE MEANS THREE TIMES THE FUN! It s a triple portion of big fat hairy fun! The fat is in the fire when Garfield is on the scene. Cooking up trouble and laughs is the specialty of the house. Of course, Garfield has plenty of help with uber nerd Jon and doofus dog Odie as his not-so-trusty sous chefs. Whether Garfield is suffering fools such as Jon and Odie, or chillin like a villain, he s always entertaining, and there are always plenty of laughs to feed his hungry fans! The GARFIELD FAT CAT 3-PACK series collects the GARFIELD comic-strip compilation books in a new, full-color format. Garfield may have gone through a few changes, but one thing has stayed the same: his enormous appetite for food and fun. So enjoy some supersized laughs with the insatiable cat, because too much fun is never enough!"

This is a mongrel mix of prose, poem, cartoon strip, letter, and limerick. Musings upon his mum, his chum, his love, his love's loss, and salvation at the paws of his chum's mum's Welsh Border Collie. This collection of verse and drawings from the man dubbed "comedy's poet laureate" combines Hegley's skills as a stand-up poet, puppeteer, and cartoonist. The work is, by turns, both touching and funny. ""

Finally, the first volume of Kyle's Bed & Breakfast is available in print again, thanks to Sugar Maple Press. For those unfamiliar with the addictively fun-filled series, Kyle's B&B is a syndicated comic strip focused on the lives of a group of quirky, (and often hunky ), gay men living in a harbor town B&B in the northeastern USA. Closeted minor-league baseball player Brad, corporate shark Lance, gossip-loving fashionista Richard, troubled high-school senior Eduardo, and Kyle, the 30-something inn-keeper with a heart of gold who keeps all of these hot-shots in line. Romance... drama... topical issues... laugh-out-loud humor... sexiness...hot apple pie and some hot guys raiding the fridge in their briefs... this comic strip covers all the bases And underlying it all is a warm message of hope. Included in this volume are the first 5 years of the comic strip, along with a previously-unpublished 2 episode story, and a detailed floor-by-floor "blueprint" layout of the B&B. When this book was originally published in 2004, it went on to become a Lambda Literary Award Finalist for "Best Humor Book" of the year. This new Sugar Maple Press edition features sharply improved graphics; the comic strip images are larger, with crisper & clearer delineation. Also restored are the individual episode numbers, something curiously lacking in the original edition. These days, Kyle's Bed & Breakfast has a vastly larger, worldwide readership, with an enormous online presence. The strip also went full-color a few years ago, unlike the early black & white episodes featured in this volume, (and those in the follow-up volume, "Kyle's Bed & Breakfast: A Second Bowl of Serial," also available from Sugar Maple Press). What fun it is to travel back and see how it all began, before the strip was in color, before the characters all knew each other. This is one B&B vacation you do NOT want to miss

"It's A Gay Life" is a robust collection of hilariously queer comics from the warped mind of Aaron Palmiter. Within these black ink style comics are Gay & Lesbian themes that poke fun at realities that people would often view as socially unacceptable. These comics are ironic in nature but funny nonetheless. Other themes include Pop Culture, Television/Movie Characters, Sex and Personified Animals. What started as a hobby has now been brought into print for everyone to enjoy. Flip the pages with caution because you might find yourself rolling on the floor laughing, if not then know you will at least laugh out loud This collection is fun, edgy, imaginative and hilariously queer.

GRIN and BEAR IT debuted for the first time in 1932 and has been running in newspapers ever since. George Lichty's "smear" style creation delivers a dose of light satire and observational humor with the morning coffee. (The cartoon is currently drawn by Fred Wagner and written by Ralph Dunagin.) The GRIN and BEAR IT cartoon was awarded the National Cartoonists Society Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award four times-1956, 1960, 1962, and 1964. The print version measures 5.5in x 8.5in with each panel weighing in at a whopping 4.1in wide. The cartoons themselves have each been digitally remastered to provide the largest, crispest panels possible. The eBook version features a Quick Link table of contents and 124 of the sharpest classic cartoons to ever hit an eReader screen.

At its peak, the Mr. Mum cartoon strip circulated through 180 different newspapers in 22 countries. Mr. Mum was one of the first captionless strips in mass publication and is thought by some to have paved the way for Larson's strip, The Far Side. This book is a large 5.5" x 8.5" format and has had pixel-level remastering of all the cartoons. It contains all 121 cartoons originally published in 1954. As a bonus, this book is a Motley Edition. It provides a 25-cartoon taste of one of Mr. Mum's single-panel peers--Brother Juniper as he was in The Whimsical World of Brother Juniper by Justin McCarthy.

Dogs are tops--35 percent of Canadian households include at least one canine--and anyone who's been owned by one (yes, that's right) will tell you why: we share in each other's joy and pain; they cheer us up when we're blue; they strive to please us and are indispensable workers, serving us even at their peril; we pamper and play with them, train them and take them for walks (actually, they take us); they sleep in our beds; sit on our laps; and if we let them they will follow us to the ends of the earth. But do we really know what they think?
This collection is for anyone who has ever wondered what constitutes "dog breath" to a dog, the real reason why dogs hate doggie coats, or why they replaced woolly mammoths as man's best friend. The answer to the last question is that dogs shed "slightly" less. But for other profound, hilarious and sometimes poignant observations, like why dogs shouldn't open restaurants, or what would happen if a dog actually caught a car, readers need look no further than "Tails Don't Lie"--the best of Adrian Raeside's dog cartoons.

During a period of political and social upheaval in China, the unconventional insights of the great Daoist Zhuangzi (369?-286? B.C.) pointed to a way of living naturally. Inspired by his fascination with the wisdom of this sage, the immensely popular Taiwanese cartoonist Tsai Chih Chung created a bestselling Chinese comic book. Tsai had his cartoon characters enact the key parables of Zhuangzi (pronounced jwawngdz), and he rendered Zhuangzi's most enlightening sayings into modern Chinese. Through Tsai's enthusiasm and skill, the earliest and core parts of the Zhuangzi were thus made accessible to millions of Chinese-speaking people with no other real chance of appreciating this major Daoist text. Translated into English by Brian Bruya, the comic book is now available to a Western audience. The classical Chinese text of the selections of the Zhuangzi is reproduced in the margins throughout. Evoked by the translation and the playful cartoons is the spontaneity that Zhuangzi favors as an attitude toward life: abandon presuppositions, intellectual debates, and ambitions, he suggests, and listen to the "music of nature." With the writings attributed to Laozi, the Zhuangzi contributed to an alternative philosophical ideal that matched Confucianism in its impact on Chinese culture. Over the centuries this classical Daoism influenced many aspects of Chinese life, including painting, literature, and the martial arts. It had a particularly strong effect on Chan Buddhism (Japanese Zen). For this book, Donald Munro has written an afterword that places Daoism and the Zhuangzi in historical and cultural context.

Dave Walker, a thirty-something cartoonist, web editor and former church and community youth worker has become the UK'S leading cartoon commentator on the state of the Church (local and national). His Guide to the Church cartoons appear weekly in the Church Times, and on the paper's daily blog, and many more can be found on Dave's website, www.cartoonchurch.com. This is his third collection of cartoons. His first cartoon collection reprinted within three months and is now in its third printing. His second collection is in its second printing. His many fans will love this third volume with its Tweeting bishops, its sociological study of the average Lent group, its handy guide to weighing up the respective merits of going to a church service vs. an Alpha course, and a great deal more.

From hormones to how-come-Ia (TM)m-not-like-everyone-else questions and insecurities, Borgman and Scott continue to successfully tell teenage horror stories since the strips debut in newspapers in 1997. Readers and fans can find Zits in 1,600 newspapers worldwide, an achievement only 18 comic strips have ever earned.
Lauded by the "Los Angeles Times" "as one of the freshest and most imaginative comic strips" and designated as Best Newspaper Comic Strip twice by the National Cartoonists Society, Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman's "Zits" chronicles many of the scenes that play out under the rooftops of more than 80.5 million homes across the country.
Artfully exploring insecurities, societal pressures, and just plain teenage goofiness, Scott and Borgman contrast the experiences of adolescence and parenthood. Sixteen-year-old Jeremy Duncan is learning to navigate residential byways and high school hallways while the parentals, a.k.a. Connie and Walt Duncan, try to keep pace and find a little peace.

Welcome to Yellowberry Hill!...a place where an owl in a onesie, a snake in a cape and a mole with a conspicuous wig are best friends; where a cat has a pet dog, a frog is permanently in a mug and the local moose is never without a slice of pie; where an undersized panda regularly tests the patience of a duck in a woolly hat, while a little blue fish tries to make sense of it all and a distant yak looks on. Once you've accepted that all this is normal, you'll be right at home...